Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Tonight the Iowa State men play #6 Kansas. The game is on ESPNU.

Tonight the #25 Iowa State women play #1 Baylor. The game is on Fox College Sports Central.

Both teams are playing top-10 conference opponents and the games are not available on basic cable. The games could be exciting or they could be blowouts, but far fewer people will be able to see them than might have a year or two ago on ESPN/2 or Fox Sports. In fact, with a bunch of men’s games on ESPNU this year, there may be fewer viewers in Iowa than when the games were on WOI.

This is what the Devaney Center basketball court looked like Jan. 26, 2011 (my picture):

And here’s what it looks like now. (I originally had a screencap from CBS, but the link has a wider image.)

Big Ten logos at Nebraska games are still weird, and still so wrong.

Nebraska’s website still has the press release from when the court was refurbished in 2004. This Nebraska fan forum topic indicates the court was redone in 2011, although honestly it looks like the bigger N and Big Ten logo are big decals over the old ones because of the white bases. The phrase “Bob Devaney Sports Center” has switched sides and is now in a blocky font as opposed to what might have been Helvetica.

Unlike Hilton Coliseum, the basketball court is a permanent part of the building, according to this Lincoln Journal-Star piece from 2010.

The logo at the center of Carver-Hawkeye Arena got bigger in 2011 as well, the post-1994 ISU logos are big, and plenty of other arenas use big center-court logos. (See my Texas and A&M posts from January 2012.) I suppose it’s a branding thing, but at current levels they makes the court look too “busy.” There’s something to be said for the minimalist look the Devaney Center court had in the 2000s.

Memphis, Tennessee — In four years, Paul Rhoads has taken Iowa State to three bowl games. With this 31-17 loss to Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl, he also has three seasons with losing records.

Despite the 6-7 record, this is the game that “doesn’t count”. The first game against Tulsa in this three-game series was crucial for bowl eligibility, and so will the last. A bowl loss is a blemish to be sure, but given the current standards it’s still better than the alternative.

In both of ISU’s Liberty Bowl losses, the winning team scored 31 points.

The cover-your-eyes side note: Steele Jantz’s last five appearances on the field were as follows: Interception, 1-yard sack, 8-yard completed pass, incomplete pass, rush-fumble.

It could have been worse. It could have been raining the second half instead of just most of the first.

If only they gave points for attendance.